And One for Casetta di Trastevere
We had said our goodbyes to Clotilde and Camille the previous night because we had a very early morning. Will and I got up and grabbed a cab to the Catania train station. We had a ticket from Palermo to Rome, and we weren’t in Palermo anymore! This had to be resolved. The lady said she was unable to change our ticket, but she would sell us a ticket from Catania to Messina. It was the same train that we would be on otherwise, just further along in its route. Basically, we’d board the train in Catania, then we’d have to switch seats when it hit Messina. That’s right, not trains, but seats. Just move to a different car. Whatever, why not?
FYI, this was a fucking TWELVE HOUR TRAIN. During our first leg, our little six-seat room was comfortably air-conditioned but full. We were just with some family. It was quiet and uneventful.
When we hit Messina, we switched rooms. Like the other room, it was full. Unlike the other room, it was not air-conditioned. It was hot as balls. We were with a mom and her two-year-old (?? We’re really bad with baby ages.) baby. Thankfully, the child was asleep. As we did earlier, we boarded a train-boat.
Will and I went up to grab a snack, like the last time. The snack thing was closed, and there was a huge line for the vending machine. Will and I stood on the deck for a while. I’m suffering from allergies, and I’ve been having this awful post-nasal drip. Suddenly, a huge amount just dropped into my mouth. Luckily, I was on the deck of a boat. I decided to spit the wad of phelgm into the ocean. The wind was like, “FUCK THAT!” and lifted it back up into the air. I watched the wad fly back up, over the rail, across the deck, and just land five feet from some people on a bench. FML.
To save myself further embarrassment, I went inside to check the vending machine. They had some product called Cipster (pronounced “Chipster,” it’s Italy). Will and I were nervous. I can’t remember if I told you, dear reader, but Pringles in Europe are fucking terrible. They have the taste and consistency of cardboard, and they’re not even salted. However, we weren’t even halfway through the twelve hour train of doom, and we were starving. I tried to buy Cipster. The machine hated me. It wouldn’t take my money.
After about ten tries of trying to get it to take my coins, I let the guy behind me go. It worked for him just fine. I tried it again, being slow and gentle with adding coins (you have to shoot the coins up, like a pinball machine coin slot). Because I treated it like a proper lady, it accepted. Cipster wasn’t too bad. We also had some hot cocoa from another vending machine. It was actually pretty good.
When we got back to the train, the baby was awake. It wanted to play with its weird plastic castle toy thing. It was a pretty quiet baby, which was nice. The car was still hot as hell. At one point, three of the people in our car left. They were replaced by another three, one of whom had a little Miniature Pincer. It was friendly and liked me a lot. Yay.
Will and I got into Rome at about 22:00. All we had to eat was a croissant at 09:00. We were hungry as hell. We made a beeline for Trastevere and FEASTED. We both started with a course of bufala mozzarella and split some fries on the side. Then, we had a margherita pizza, one for each of us. After that, Will had fettucine al ragú, and I had ricotta and spinach ravioli in a butter and sage sauce. For dessert, Will had a crème brulee, and I had panna cotta in some crazy berry sauce. It was amazing, huge, filling, and it was only 21.50 Euros. Be jealous.
Finally, we waddled back to Camping Fabulous and passed out.
Will’s Corner
Out of books. Damnit.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Joe,
You are brighter than the sun.
Love,
Will and Andy
No comments:
Post a Comment